Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Business: Inflation and Interest Rates

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support companies facing financial pressures due to the impact of inflation and interest rate increases.

Lord Callanan: The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses. Businesses will have benefitted from the Government’s reversal of the National Insurance rise, saving businesses on average £4,200, cut fuel duty for 12 months and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, to protect businesses from high energy costs over the winter. The Employment Allowance was increased to £5,000 from April and we have continued to provide business rate relief worth over £7bn, freezing the business rates multiplier for a further year. In addition, at the Autumn Statement, my Rt Hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates.

Help to Grow Schemes

Lord Leong: To ask His Majesty's Government howmany small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have participated in the 'Help to Grow' scheme since its launch; and how much has been spent on that scheme.

Lord Callanan: The Help to Grow schemes have supported over 5,000 businesses so far. We will release details on the uptake and costs of both the Help to Grow schemes in due course after Help to Grow Digital has fully closed.

Ministry of Justice

Wandsworth Prison: Staff

Lord Hylton: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to restore a full staff level at His Majesty’s Prison Wandsworth to prevent 23-hour lock-ups, eliminate rats, and restore the operation of the prison chapel.

Lord Bellamy: As with all establishments where there is a current or future need to fill vacancies, there is a recruitment campaign open for prison officers at HMP Wandsworth. To manage vacancies, establishments are also able to cover these through payment plus (an overtime payment for prison officers). Where staffing levels are being impacted by reasons other than vacancies, including sickness and restricted duties, this is being managed by Governors in line with national policy. If any establishments feel that their staffing levels will impact on stability, they can apply for extra resource through submitting a business case to the HMPPS Operational Resource and Stability Panel.The Senior Leadership Team at HMP Wandsworth are committed to creating a regime that will allow prisoners to spend longer out of their cells and in work and education-related activities, which is essential to effective rehabilitation.Similarly to other London-based buildings where a large number of people live and work, HMP Wandsworth takes steps to support the control of rats and other vermin, with Rentokil (a specialist hygiene provider for prisons and police) regularly visiting to implement control measures. This is supplemented with regular cleaning parties who are deployed to keep rubbish to a minimum and focused waste management at the prison, which supports rubbish disposal of internal and external waste. The prison has also implemented a new window project to limit the ability to throw rubbish outside. These measures are underpinned by a committed focus on creating a hygienic environment for prisoners.There is an ongoing Government Facility Services Limited project to replace the roof and refurbish the prison’s chapel. Religious services will continue to be catered for across the prison whilst the work is underway, which is due to be completed in 2024.

Family Courts

Baroness Pitkeathley: To ask His Majesty's Government what training magistrates and judges sitting in Family Courts receive on domestic abuse.

Lord Bellamy: To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.Family judges and magistrates receive training on Domestic Abuse as part of induction training, which they must complete before they hear any cases, and in ongoing continuation training. Most recently, updated digital training was launched in Autumn 2021, and updated face-to-face training rolled out from April 2022. The content covers all areas recognised as abuse, ranging from serious sexual and other assaults and covering emotional abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, including financial coercion and control, as well as the impact not just on survivors, but their children and wider family.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Embassies: China

Lord Blencathra: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking against any Chinese diplomats involved in alleged violence against protestors at the Chinese Consulate grounds on 16 October.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: As part of an independent investigation, the Police requested that the FCDO approach the Chinese Government to waive the immunity of the Chinese Consul General and five of his staff to allow for interviews. Following our request, the Chinese Embassy notified us that they had removed the Consul General from the UK. The other five officials have also left the UK. It is right that those responsible for the disgraceful scenes in Manchester are no longer accredited to the UK.

Ethiopia: Tigray

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the peace accord between Tigray leaders and the Ethiopian federal government signed in South Africa on 2 November.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: The peace agreement signed between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front in South Africa on 2 November is bringing to an end two years of conflict and immense suffering for the people of Ethiopia. Successful implementation of the deal is critical for addressing the urgent humanitarian needs, but also longer-term aims for peace and prosperity. In the last nineteen months the UK has provided nearly £90 million of life-saving aid to communities across Ethiopia affected by crises. The Foreign Secretary, during his visit to Ethiopia on 8 December told Prime Minister Abiy that Ethiopia could rely on the UK's full support on its path to recovery and reconciliation. We have offered the parties to the agreement and the African Union (AU) assistance with implementation.

South Sudan: Politics and Government

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current political and security situation in Kodok, South Sudan; and what support they are providing to the UN peacekeeping force in that area.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: We have received credible reports from partners in Upper Nile State of hundreds of civilians killed, tens of thousands displaced, homes and livelihoods destroyed, and sexual and gender-based violence being perpetrated. On 16 December, the Troika (UK, US and Norway) and the EU issued a statement on the escalation in violence in Upper Nile and Jonglei States (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-by-the-troika-and-the-european-union-on-violence-in-upper-nile-and-jonglei-states). The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has a peacekeeping presence in Kodok and is providing protection to civilians there. The UK provides almost £58 million to UNMISS via the UN peacekeeping budget.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Hygiene: Waste Disposal

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the delay in the publication of their assessment of the environmental impacts of disposable and reusable absorbent hygiene products; and whether they will publish this within the next two months.

Lord Benyon: Work on the environmental assessment of disposable and reusable nappies is nearly complete and peer review of the work is being finalised. No date has been set for publication, but we are working to get things finished as soon as possible.

Deposit Return Schemes

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government whether it remains their intention for a deposit return scheme to be operational in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland from 2024; and what assessment they have made of the potential impact on (1) producers, (2) retailers, and (3) consumers, of a different implementation date in Scotland.

Lord Benyon: We want to ensure we have an ambitious yet realistic timeframe for delivery of the scheme and sought views on what a feasible implementation timeline looked like in the 2021 consultation. Further details on when a DRS will be introduced will be in the government response to that consultation, which will be published early in the New Year. DRS presents a number of complex policy, delivery and design decisions which required additional time in 2022 to work through before we could finalise our response. Waste is a devolved policy area, and we are working closely with the devolved administrations and industry to support the successful delivery of the scheme across the UK, including mitigating the impacts that arise from differences in scheme implementation.

Nappies: Waste Disposal

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks byBaroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 15 September 2021 (HL Deb, col 1495), when they expect to publish the independent environmental assessment of nappy use.

Lord Benyon: While there are currently no plans to ban the sale of disposable nappies, we recognise the issues associated with absorbent hygiene products such as nappies. A number of local authorities already provide support towards upfront purchases of reusable nappies, and we have no plans to duplicate that work. Work on the environmental assessment of disposable and reusable nappies is nearly complete and peer review of the work is being finalised. No date has been set for publication, but we are working to get things finished as soon as possible. This work will help inform any future action by government and industry.

Nappies

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on (1) a plan for the reduction of the use of single-use nappies, (2) a financial support scheme to assist parents with the initial costs of purchasing reusable nappies, and (3) the improvement of the labelling of single-use nappies.

Lord Benyon: While there are currently no plans to ban the sale of disposable nappies, we recognise the issues associated with absorbent hygiene products such as nappies. A number of local authorities already provide support towards upfront purchases of reusable nappies, and we have no plans to duplicate that work. Work on the environmental assessment of disposable and reusable nappies is nearly complete and peer review of the work is being finalised. No date has been set for publication, but we are working to get things finished as soon as possible. This work will help inform any future action by government and industry.

Deposit Return Schemes

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the deposit return scheme for England, Wales and Northern Ireland operates in a manner that avoids contamination with other forms of packaging.

Lord Benyon: One of the objectives of the DRS is to offer a greater opportunity to collect higher quality, uncontaminated materials in greater quantities. By creating a separate waste stream for the materials in scope of the DRS (as opposed to them being collected at kerbside co-mingled with other recycled waste), we will be able to collect them to a high quality for reprocessing.

Recycling: Labelling

Lord Smith of Finsbury: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps they have taken (1) to progress plans to introduce mandatory recycling labelling on packaging, and (2) to ensure businesses are able to implement these reforms effectively and at reasonable costs.

Lord Benyon: We confirmed our intention to require recycling labelling on packaging in March 2022 in the Government's Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility consultation response. We continue to engage with stakeholders as we develop these requirements, the approach to assessing recyclability and the regulations to introduce mandatory labelling.Labelling will be required by 31 st March 2026 for all packaging except plastic films and flexibles which will be required to be labelled by 31 st March 2027. This should provide sufficient time for business to adopt labelling as part of typical business cycles and to avoid unnecessary costs. It will also allow time for collection services to develop such that all local authorities collect the same packaging materials for recycling.

Recycling: Labelling

Lord Teverson: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken (1) to prepare for the introduction of mandatory recycling labelling on packaging, and (2) to ensure business is able to implement these reforms effectively and at a reasonable cost.

Lord Benyon: We confirmed our intention to require recycling labelling on packaging in March 2022 in the Government’s Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility consultation response. We continue to engage with stakeholders as we develop these requirements, the approach to assessing recyclability and the regulations to introduce mandatory labelling. Labelling will be required by 31st March 2026 for all packaging except plastic films and flexibles which will be required to be labelled by 31st March 2027. This should provide sufficient time for business to adopt labelling as part of typical business cycles and to avoid unnecessary costs. It will also allow time for collection services to develop such that all local authorities collect the same packaging materials for recycling.

Recycling: Labelling

Lord Teverson: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the new regulations regarding mandatory recyclability labelling are enforced.

Lord Benyon: The regulations will set out the role of the enforcement authority and the offences and penalties that will apply to businesses that do not comply with the labelling requirements. The Office for Product Safety and Standards has agreed in principle to become the enforcement body and is advising us on the development of the monitoring and enforcement regime.

Deposit Return Schemes

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish a response to their 2021 deposit return scheme consultation; and why that response was not published in early 2022 as planned.

Lord Benyon: We want to ensure we have an ambitious yet realistic timeframe for delivery of the scheme and sought views on what a feasible implementation timeline looked like in the 2021 consultation. Further details on when a DRS will be introduced will be in the government response to that consultation, which will be published early in the New Year. DRS presents a number of complex policy, delivery and design decisions which required additional time in 2022 to work through before we could finalise our response. Waste is a devolved policy area, and we are working closely with the devolved administrations and industry to support the successful delivery of the scheme across the UK, including mitigating the impacts that arise from differences in scheme implementation.

Recycling: Labelling

Lord Teverson: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that mandatory recycling labelling on packaging will enable consumers to recycle easily and accurately.

Lord Benyon: The Government set out its proposals for recycling labelling on packaging in the consultation response published in March 2022. We stated that the labelling requirements would comprise a recycling symbol (the Recycle Now ‘swoosh’) and the appropriate wording (Recycle or Do not recycle). This will provide clear information to help consumers recycle easily and avoid confusion caused by the variety of current labelling.

Soil

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 8 September 2021 (HL Deb col 867) in which he said that they "will publish a soil health action plan for England",when they willpublish this plan.

Lord Benyon: The Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), due to be published by 31 January 2023, will set out the government’s strategic direction for improving and protecting soil health so that it is valued and appropriately managed, balancing sustainable food production alongside increasing biodiversity and protecting our environment. We are currently planning to engage with stakeholders in the new year on next steps, once the EIP is published.

Food: Prices

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of food inflation in supermarkets, given the increased cost of living.

Lord Benyon: Defra officials have regular discussions with food retailers about a range of issues, including the impact of food price inflation. This rose to 16.4% in October according to ONS data covering all household purchases of food inside and outside of supermarkets. Given sustained pressures, we anticipate food prices continuing to trend upwards in the short term. We are closely monitoring the situation.

Home Office

Migrants: Religion

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collectdata on the religious affiliation of immigrants upon arrival to the UK.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Home Office do not collect data on the religious affiliation of immigrants upon arrival to the UK.

Undocumented Migrants: Albania

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the UK–Albania announcement on a joint task force against illegal migration, how many British caseworkers will be sent to Tirana; and how much is the total cost of the policy.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: Following the new approach agreed with the Albanian government on 13th Dec, we are in close discussions with them on the operational details. Under the joint communiqué, the UK will support the relevant Albanian structures to bolster mechanisms used to refer victims for appropriate support and increase the existing Albanian Responsible Authority and National Referral Mechanism capacity to reinforce processes and decision-making in line with the European Convention on Action against Trafficking of Human Beings. We are not currently expecting to send any caseworkers to Tirana; rather support will be offered from the UK and the British Embassy in Tirana. Currently resources are being reprioritised and reallocated to deliver on the commitments made from within existing budgets.

British Nationality: Fees and Charges

Lord Rosser: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the fee for citizenship applications; and what is the administrative cost of processing such applications.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The fee for an application to naturalise as a British citizen is £1,250 and the unit cost of processing the application is estimated to be £416.The fee for Nationality registration as a British citizen for an adult is £1,126 and the unit cost of processing the application is estimated to be £416.The fee for Nationality registration as a British citizen for a child is £1,012 and the unit cost of processing the application is estimated to be £416.Visa fees transparency data Nov 2022 (xlsx, 58.4KB)

Visas: Seasonal Workers

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to mitigate any shortages of foreign workers caused by the operation of the seasonal farm worker visa scheme.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Seasonal Worker route allows workers to come to the UK for up to six months to pick both edible and ornamental crops, enabling UK growers to access seasonal workers throughout the calendar year.The UK government is committed to supporting the agricultural industry. The Seasonal Worker route will be expanded in 2023, with 45,000 visas available. The separate poultry quota will remain at 2,000 places. This enlarged route will be kept under review with the potential to increase it by a further 10,000 if necessary, and is contingent on sponsors and growers improving and abiding by worker welfare standards, including ensuring workers are guaranteed a minimum number of paid hours each week.Employers should look to recruit from the domestic labour market in the first instance which includes those who have EU settled status or others with status which provides general work rights.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Homelessness: Grants

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government how many households have benefited from the Homelessness Prevention Grant since it was launched in December 2021.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The Homelessness Prevention Grant supports local authorities in England to deliver their statutory duties to prevent and relieve homelessness and provide temporary accommodation where required. The funding is paid to councils and can be used flexibly to deliver their homelessness and rough sleeping strategies, in line with local priorities. 278,110 households were assessed as either being threatened with homelessness or already homeless in 2021-22 and therefore owed a homelessness duty and supported by councils.

Council Tax

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have toreview the system under which council tax bandings are designated.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: I refer the noble Lord to my answer to Question HL4368 on 22 December 2022.

Local Government: Flags

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Scott of Bybrook on 15 December (HL3951), whether thisadvice regarding the flying of flags of countries other than the UK or Ukraine also applies to (1) Northern Ireland, (2) Scotland, and (3) Wales.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007 (as amended) apply to England only. The flying of flags by local authorities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is a matter for the devolved administrations and for individual local authorities to determine in accordance with any applicable legislation.

Treasury

Public Expenditure: EU Countries

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Penn on 14 December (HL3949),whether they will list in a table the various constituent parts of the UK’s financial commitments to the EU that the payment of c.£11bn sought to settle; and how much of that c.£11bn relates to each of those parts.

Baroness Penn: His Majesty’s Government has provided the breakdown of material payments in relation to the financial settlement under the Withdrawal Agreement as well as other obligations during the transition period in the annual publication of the European Union Finances Statement. The details can be found in the documents published in 2021 and 2022, which are accessible on gov.uk and also provided in the attached.Supporting doc 1 (pdf, 2046.9KB)Supporting doc 2 (pdf, 492.7KB)

Tax Evasion: Criminal Investigation

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask His Majesty's Government what plansthey have to increase the number of tax compliance investigations.

Baroness Penn: HMRC closed 256,000 civil compliance checks in 2021-22, up from 248,000 the previous year. Compliance yield fell during the pandemic as we reprioritised work recognising the challenges faced by individuals and businesses. Any compliance risks that we did not pick up during the Covid period are still there and available for us to work. The most efficient way to get tax right across 45 million individuals and 5 million businesses is for HMRC to guide the taxpayer by intervening before anything has the chance to go wrong. That includes things like prompts built into the online Self Assessment System, which flag when a customer’s entry is out of line with what is expected. It also includes creating policies that make it easy for people to do the right thing and in a way that makes some historical forms of non-compliance nearly impossible. HMRC’s approach is underpinned by cutting-edge data analysis, which we use to identify where tax is most at risk of not being paid and design tailored, targeted and proportionate interventions to address it. A ‘compliance check’ allows us to investigate someone’s tax affairs if we think they may not be paying the right amount of tax. The Government continues to invest in HMRC to ensure the right amount of tax is paid. For example, new measures were announced at the Autumn Statement 2022 which are forecast to raise £1.7 billion in tax revenue over the next five years.

FTX: Insolvency

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made ofthe risks to investors following the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Baroness Penn: Recent events in cryptoasset markets – including the collapse of FTX – have highlighted the importance of establishing regulation which supports safe innovation and protects consumers and stability. The FCA and Bank of England have warned that cryptoassets are high risk, and that investors should be prepared to lose all of their money. In January 2022 the government published a response to a consultation on a proposal to bring certain cryptoassets into the scope of financial promotions regulation. The forthcoming legislation on cryptoasset financial promotions, resulting from the consultation, and supporting FCA rules, will regulate in-scope cryptoasset financial promotions, requiring them to be fair, clear and not misleading. This is aimed at improving consumers’ understanding of the risks and benefits associated with cryptoasset purchases and ensuring that cryptoasset promotions are held to the same standards as similar risk financial services products. The government will also consult on its approach to regulating wider cryptoasset activities in the coming weeks. The government will continue to closely monitor the wider cryptoasset market and will stand ready to take further regulatory action if required.

Tax Evasion: Prosecutions

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask His Majesty's Government how many criminal prosecutions for tax offences have been undertaken by HMRC each year since 2010 up until the last year for which records are available.

Baroness Penn: Financial YearProsecutions2011/124492012/135762013/147612014/157092015/168802016/178872017/189172018/197492019/206912020/211632021/22236Total7372 The information provided above shows the number of prosecutions resulting from HMRC criminal investigations since the start of the 2011/2012 financial year - when the Department’s assured data begins. However, HMRC is not a prosecuting authority. Cases are prepared to the highest evidential standard and passed to the relevant prosecuting authority, who decide if a case progresses to court. HMRC is therefore reliant on the prosecuting authorities and the criminal justice system to progress cases to conclusion. This is a lengthy process and outcomes achieved in any given year are not necessarily reflective of HMRC’s activity in the same period. The number of prosecutions has fallen over the last three years. There are a number of contributing factors here, including ongoing delays within the courts system due to the pandemic, and HMRC’s strategic choice to focus on harder-to-reach targets and tackle the most serious frauds. Prosecutions represent one element of a wide-ranging HMRC response to tax fraud, which also includes civil investigations and sanctions, data and intelligence analysis, risk detection and profiling, education, legislative change, partnering with the public and private sectors, and target-hardening of our systems and processes. In practice, the Department focusses interventions where they have most impact, an approach which is about reaching the right outcome for the UK, rather than chasing arbitrary targets for arrests and prosecutions. Most of HMRC’s work to tackle tax fraud makes use of civil powers because these are the most proportionate, economical and effective way to recover monies owed and tackle fraud; as such, criminal investigations are focused on cases which meet certain criteria to ensure they deliver both value for money for the taxpayer and the maximum impact on tax fraud.

VAT: Registration

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Harlech on 14 December (HL3897), whatproportion of VAT registration applications received in (1) June, (2) July, (3) August, and (4) September, had been dealt with by 30 November; and what were the equivalent figures in 2021.

Baroness Penn: The data requested is not straightforward to provide as HMRC do not report this data internally in the form requested. As such, the information cannot be provided within the timeframe without incurring disproportionate cost. In July 2022 HMRC came under a significant attack from VAT registration fraudsters and we saw the number of registrations being sent to HMRC increase to unprecedented levels. To deal with this issue a number of measures were urgently put in place to protect genuine customers and to stop the increase in fraudulent activity. These measures entailed additional security checks that meant that some genuine customers were caught in the new processes to ensure the authenticity of the registration being made. HMRC does understand the frustrations from agents and businesses, and are working to ensure all genuine registrations are processed as quickly as possible. HMRC aims to turnaround most VAT registrations within 40 working days and is currently meeting that service level agreement, although some cases do take longer due to additional compliance checks or complexity. Due to the high numbers of new registrations being submitted to HMRC during the summer, HMRC did not always meet the service standard over that time period.

VAT: Registration

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Harlech on 14 December (HL3897), whatrepresentations they have received about the length of time it takes for VAT registrations to be processed.

Baroness Penn: In July 2022 HMRC came under a significant attack from VAT registration fraudsters and we saw the number of registrations being sent to HMRC increase to unprecedented levels. To deal with this issue a number of measures were urgently put in place to protect genuine customers and to stop the increase in fraudulent activity. These measures entailed additional security checks that meant that some genuine customers were caught in the new processes to ensure the authenticity of the registration being made. HMRC understands the frustrations from agents and businesses and are working to ensure all genuine registrations are processed as quickly as possible. Due to the high numbers of new registrations being submitted to HMRC during the summer, HMRC did not always meet their service standard over that time. HMRC has received representations from individuals and organisations regarding timescales for registering customers for VAT. Where representations are made, HMRC has and will continue to work with individuals and businesses to overcome any challenges they are facing where possible. HMRC works hard to be open and transparent, particularly with business and agent representative bodies who HMRC meet regularly. HMRC have also, this year, stepped up their transparency by explaining processing times to agents through the HMRC Service Dashboard on GOV.UK.

Business Rates: Reform

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of business rates and the case for reform.

Baroness Penn: The Government recently undertook a full review of the business rates system. The Final Report of the Business Rates Review was published at Autumn Budget 2021. The report reaffirmed the importance of business rates as part of the UK tax system, particularly as they raise around £20 billion a year to fund vital local services. As part of this Review the Government committed to more frequent revaluations from 2023, a major reform to the system ensuring that business rates liabilities are more responsive to changing market conditions. This addresses a key ask of stakeholders for more frequent revaluations and to reduce the burden of business rates to make the system fairer. At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth £13.6 billion over the next five years. The package contains new measures to reduce the burden of business rates on firms, including a freeze in the multiplier, extended relief for high street businesses, and a new Exchequer funded Transitional Relief scheme to help ratepayers adapt to their new bills. The Government keeps all taxes under review.

Taxation: Self-assessment

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of self-assessment as a mechanism for ensuring the collection of all taxes owed to HMRC.

Baroness Penn: Over £100 billion of tax receipts in 2021-2022 were received through Income Tax Self Assessment and Corporation Tax Self Assessment. Individuals and businesses with taxable income that has not already been fully taxed at source are required to report that income and pay the tax due through the Income Tax Self Assessment system. Companies self-assess their tax liabilities and pay their tax through the Corporation tax self assessment system. HMRC has the power to check self-assessed tax liabilities, investigate and assess further tax if necessary. HMRC monitors the effectiveness of Self Assessment in a variety of ways, including the annual measurement of tax receipts and through estimates and analysis of the tax gap. HMRC also engages with taxpayers and their representatives at a variety of customer and agent community forums such as the Admin Burden Advisory Board, the Individual Stakeholder Forum and the Business Tax forum.